


Rey and Ben’s First Encounter

by skyawalker



Series: Connections [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Young Ben Solo, Young Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 18:38:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyawalker/pseuds/skyawalker
Summary: “The girl turned around, looked up and allowed Ben to take a look at her tear-stained face in the faint light coming from the entrance behind him. Her eyes were dark and held so much sorrow and despair.”





	Rey and Ben’s First Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I welcome you to the very first fanfiction I have ever written (in English) :D
> 
> I hope you enjoy this little young Ben & Rey headcanon of mine <3

“I guess it’s just us now.. once again”, the teenager mumbled to his opposite, a nanny droid, M3-X5.

Although Ben was almost 16, his parents never left him alone without ensuring supervision. Han and Leia bought M3 when Ben was a toddler and kept her till the present day. The risk that he could do something “stupid” that could affect his moms career negatively was just too high, his dad always declared right before he entered the Falcon along with uncle Chewie. Ben never really understood what he meant. What did his parents think he’d do when he was alone? Commit a murder? Destroy something important? Blow something up? Ben snorted at these thoughts.

“Yes sir, it’s always a pleasure. Is there anything you’d want to do? The weather is great today”, the droid started talking and pointed with it’s mechanical hands and fingers towards the window-panelled wall in front of them, showing the cloudless sky of Chandrila. Ben’s ears were beyond annoyed by that damned noise.

“Maybe you could-”, M3 began again but the teenager quickly declined. “I’ll go to the park. Alone”, he announced while particularly putting emphasis on the word “alone”. Just to make sure.  
Ben didn’t exactly know why, but seeing his parents leaving today felt slightly different than the other times before. And there were many. So many, he couldn't remember the first time waving to his dad and uncle Chewie and kissing his mom's cheek right before she went down the stairs and left for hours. Today Ben felt a bit sadder than usual, so he figured he could need some distraction. Spending time in nature sounds kind of nice, Ben thought to himself.

“Excuse me sir but leaving you alone is against my programming. Your parents were very clear”, the droid hesitated. Ben sighed. Not even five minutes had passed since they were alone and M3 was already getting on his nerves. But Ben knew that his nanny droid was persistent, so he thought of a compromise both of them liked.

“What about you walking 40 feet behind me? You’d still be able to watch me and you wouldn’t annoy me as much as you do now. Does your programming allow such thing?” Ben furrowed his brows and glared provocatively at his “nanny".

"Well"

-

After a rather long discussion that led to Ben allowing M3 that it could walk 30 feet behind him instead of 40, the two of them arrived in a small but beautiful park in Hanna City which contained a few small ponds, colorful flowers of many different species and a play area for children built on sand in the middle of it. It didn’t change that much, Ben mused. The last time he visited this place was about five years ago, with his mother. The teenager remembered hiding inside of the small play fort, playing in the sand next to it, building sandcastles and destroying them afterwards while laughing until their stomachs hurt. If Ben had to be honest, it didn’t feel like some years. It felt like ages.

There were a just few other people around, picnicking or simply enjoying the warmth of the sun and the sound of the nature. Ben decided to sit on a wooden bench near the playground and made sure that M3 stayed exactly 30 feet away from him as promised. With appraising eyes he observed the droid coming to a stand with more than enough space between them. Good, Ben thought.

Exhaling, he opened his notepad which he carried along with feather and ink almost everywhere he went. Ben dipped the feather into the ink, carefully transferred it to the paper in front of him and started to practice a few random letters, such as “J” and “R”, before writing actual words that just spontaneously came to his mind, like “Sand”.  
Calligraphy wasn’t just a hobby to him, but also a way of properly expressing his feelings his uncle had introduced him to some time ago. At first, Ben thought of writing some ornate letters onto a piece of paper as rather embarrassing and definitely not manly enough for a 14 year old. But from time to time he learned to enjoy the silence and concentration that came along with drawing thick and thin, curved and straight lines.  
Ben almost jerked and smudged his neat work when a child suddenly cried out of nowhere. Murmuring curses, Ben looked up and scanned the park. To his surprise, he didn’t see a single child in his proximity. This kid must have a very loud voice, Ben thought frowning and focused on his practicing again. With his tongue pinched between his lips he put the feather to the paper and-  
Again. A child began to cry again.

“For the sake of-”, Ben muttered through his teeth but got silenced as soon as he looked up and couldn’t find the kid the voice belonged to. Again. Ben only saw the few people he already noticed when he first entered the park, still enjoying the weather and.. what? The cries of a child? Ben was confused. No one seemed disturbed in the slightest by this annoying but at the same time heartbreaking sound. Ben looked around. Even his nanny droid didn’t even flinch by the sound of a crying minor. 

“What the kriff?”, Ben mumbled and stood up, leaving his calligraphy set and notepad on the wooden bench. Once again, Ben scanned the park and searched for the still bitterly weeping child. No kids running on the grass and no kids on the benches around the empty playground. But there just has to be a source of the voice, he thought. Ben wasn’t insane, at least not yet. Therefore, he tried to detect the direction from which the cries seemed to come. 

Then, it clicked as if Ben just remembered something, and he began to walk towards the play fort built on the center of the playground. And as he got closer to it, the child’s voice became louder. Gotcha, Ben thought.  
Ben also used to hide in there, when he was little. Sometimes because he played hide and seek with his mother and sometimes because he actually wanted to hide away from his parents. But without lasting success, of course. 

Entering that play fort was not as easy as Ben had presumed. He grew quite a lot since he hid in there the last time, but he eventually made it - not without slightly knocking his head. 

And then Ben recognized it; the source of the cries he’d firstly perceived when he was drawing the “d” in “sand”. There it sat in a dark corner with its back turned to him: a little girl. Her hair was put up in three buns, Ben noticed. He’d never seen such a hairstyle, not even on his mother who wore her hair in the most ridiculous ways sometimes. Then the little girl’s cries faded, she seemed to have noticed the intruder. 

“Hey”, Ben began gently. He had no experience in dealing with children - if he was honest, he had no experience in dealing with other human beings at all - so he wasn’t quite sure what to do and what to say. The girl turned around, looked up and allowed Ben to take a look at her tear-stained face in the faint light coming from the entrance behind him. Her eyes were dark and held so much sorrow and despair.

“Who.. who are you?”, the girl sobbed while wiping her nose on her cuff. Ben went a few steps towards her and kneeled down so that they could meet each other at eye level. The girl shied at first, but eventually relaxed. Her eyes were still red and teary. 

“I’m Ben”, he responded, internally weighing whether he should hold out his hand or not. He decided not to. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”, Ben continued in a soft voice, afraid that he could scare her somehow and make her cry again. The girl hesitated, her sight lowering. She doesn’t trust me, Ben concluded. 

“I can help you. Just tell me what happened, maybe I can find your parents and-”, Ben stopped. At first he didn’t know why but as soon as he saw the look on the girl’s face he understood. Ben remembered how he cried the first few times his parents left him alone to continue whatever they were doing before they had him. Over time, crying turned to waving. 

“They left you here, right?”, Ben almost whispered, already knowing the answer. The little girl nodded while tears began to roll down her cheeks again. “They left me alone.. I am.. alone”, she whimpered and buried her face in her tiny hands. What kind of parents just leave their child all alone in a park in the middle of a big city?, Ben thought, clenching his jaw. 

“But you’re not alone.” The girl looked up again. “I’m here with you. I can wait with you here until your parents come back. We can build sandcastles or I can show you some of my work”, Ben said calmly. Her whimpers faded but the sadness in her eyes stayed. 

“But you’re not real!”, she responded, her small chin quivering. Huh? Ben’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean I’m not real?”, he asked, his voice full of surprise.

“Sir, may I ask.. who are you talking to?”, a mechanical voice came from behind. Ben rolled his eyes and turned his head to M3 who stood outside of the play fort and looked through the entrance. 

“Are you blind, M3? I’m talking to the girl”, he sighed, watching his nanny droid slightly tilting its head.

“Excuse me, sir, but.. what girl?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd really appreciate any kind of feedback^^
> 
> PS: This will be continued ;))
> 
> [Check out my tumblr blog: https://katarainspace.tumblr.com/]


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